Paul Banks Elementary
March 2023 Newsletter
Dear Paul Banks Families,
Recently, I was talking with a parent about how exciting it is to help build the reading foundation for so many of the children in our community. To see kids wrestling with words and then suddenly having that aha moment where the words become sentences and paragraphs and stories is so powerful. I anticipate that for many of you this past month was filled with conversations about reading, ships, and Captain Sea Dog Campbell walking the plank. All of which is part of our annual read-a-thon which has been fantastic! The read-a-thon will officially come to an end Thursday, March 9th when Captain Sea Dog walks the plank: not only did our school meet our reading goal (150,000 minutes), we blew it away!
The whole month of the read-a-thon has been a blast. I love hearing kids tell me about books, hearing the enthusiasm for me walking the plank, but most of all is the enthusiasm kids have for reading. One parent told me a story of how the read-a-thon “changed her family’s life” because her child was reading in the morning before school. Another shared that their child was reading with a flashlight every morning on the way to school. Others have told me about their child choosing to read rather than play a video game. Just the other day, I was at our library and got to watch a student who started the year as a non-reader reading to their father. It was amazing!
Another highlight of February, also connected to reading, was the return of our annual Bingo For Books. What a treat! Our entire school spent an assembly playing bingo-a numeracy exercise no less-and by the end all of our students walked away with two books each. We gave away nearly 400 books!
Looking to the future, I hope that our students can build upon this awesome reading momentum going into spring break and the remainder of the year. We so appreciate all of your support with this. Our partnership will make our students’ reading foundation rock solid.
Monday 3/6 - School Board Meeting @ 6:00
Tuesday 3/7 - Read-A-Thon Pledges Due by 2:30pm
Tuesday 3/7-PTA Meeting @ 6:00 (pizza and childcare provided)
Wednesday 3/8 - Hardanger Concert @ 12:30pm
Thursday 3/9 - Read-A-Thon Closing Assembly, top readers and top earners announced
Thursday 3/9 - Early Release Day, bus dismissal @ 1:00pm
Friday 3/10 - In-service/workday for staff, no school for students
Monday 3/13-Friday 3/17 - Spring Break, no school
Friday 4/7 - Vacation Day, no school
Friday 4/14 - Early Release Day & Art Extravaganza Night
Contact Us
Principal - Sean Campbell
Secretary - Katy Countiss
Phone: 907-226-1801
Fax: 907-235-8163
Facebook (a great resource to see our school in action on a daily basis)